Comede - Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s

What Comede - Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s does

Comede (Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s) is a French non-profit association founded in 1979 under the loi 1901, headquartered at Hôpital de Bicêtre (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre). It provides unconditional, free healthcare, psychological, social, and legal accompaniment to exiled and migrant populations in precarious situations across France. The organization operates a federated network of five care centers — Bicêtre, Paris, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Marseille), Loire (Saint-Étienne), and Guyane (Cayenne) — alongside national telephone helplines, a training center, and a national resource center serving both direct beneficiaries and the professionals who support them.

Its core products are direct clinical and social services (medical consultations, psychological support, social and legal accompaniment, interpretation, therapeutic education, and humanitarian pharmacy) bundled with knowledge products including the Guide Comede (sector reference guide co-published with Santé publique France, winner of the Prix Prescrire 2016), the Maux d'exil quarterly review, the bilingual Livret de santé, and Brèves d'exil testimony reports. The technology stack is operational rather than platform-based — no mobile app, public API, or digital product is offered; differentiation rests on domain-specialized content libraries, cartographic data on patient origins, and professional training infrastructure.

The business model is a hybrid non-profit funding structure with three streams: individual donations and membership fees (tax-deductible via Hello Asso), public subsidies and grants (including European funds and French government institutional funding), and academic/training partnerships. Services to beneficiaries are free and unconditional; revenue accrues from philanthropic and institutional sources rather than from the end user. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors (President Didier Fassin) with operational leadership by Directeur général Arnaud Veïsse, and is structurally independent — no parent company, holding entity, or external investment backing is indicated.

Name

Comede - Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s

Legal name

Comede - Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s

Website

https://comede.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Comede is a French non-profit association founded in 1979 that delivers free medical, psychological, social, and legal accompaniment to exiled and migrant populations across five care centers in France and French Guiana, funded by donations, public grants, and training partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Healthcare Services

NAICS

Ambulatory Health Care Services (621), Offices of Physicians (62111), Outpatient Care Centers (6214), All Other Outpatient Care Centers (621498)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Offices & Clinics Of Doctors Of Medicine (8011), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Refugee & Immigrant Support Services (BPAGAEAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Migrant & Refugee Legal Aid and Documentation Services (BPADAHAE), Refugee & Humanitarian Newcomer Orientation (Resettlement Support) (EDAAADAI)

Keywords

• Migrant healthcare services
• Exile medical support
• Social legal accompaniment
• Humanitarian clinical care
• Asylum health advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Le Kremlin-Bicêtre

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Membership: Individual donations (tax-deductible at 75% for donations under €530 and 66% above), membership fees, and monthly giving programs. Donors receive fiscal receipts through Hello Asso platform.
2. Public Subsidies and Grants: Funding from public institutions including European funds, government subsidies, and institutional partnerships. Organization has faced challenges with reduction of public funding and delayed European fund payments.
3. Membership Fees: Annual membership fees that contribute to association activities and governance participation rights

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Comede is a non-profit association that delivers direct medical consultations, psychological support, social and legal accompaniment, therapeutic education, humanitarian pharmacy services, and professional interpretation to exiled persons and migrants in precarious situations in France. It complements service delivery with national telephone helplines, a national resource center, professional training programs, and reference publications (Guide Comede, Maux d'exil, Livret de santé bilingue, Brèves d'exil). All services are provided unconditionally and free of charge to beneficiaries.

Product overview

Comede is a nonprofit healthcare organization operating a network of five care centers (Bicêtre, Paris, PACA, Guyane, Loire) providing direct medical, psychological, and socio-legal services to exiled and migrant populations. The organization complements its care delivery with telephone helplines, a national resource center, and professional training. Its publication portfolio includes the Guide Comede (comprehensive reference guide awarded the Prix Prescrire), the quarterly Maux d'exil review, bilingual health booklets, annual reports, and Brèves d'exil testimonies. The ecosystem is designed to serve both direct patient care and capacity-building for professionals across France.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Centre de santé à Bicêtre Primary care center at Hôpital de Bicêtre offering medical consultations, psychological support, social and legal assistance, therapeutic education, and humanitarian pharmacy services to exiled persons and migrants in precarious situations.
• Le Comede à Paris Regional service in Paris providing healthcare consultations and social-legal support for exiled populations.
• Le Comede en région PACA Regional service in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur offering consultations and support for exiled populations, including medico-legal consultations in partnership with Médecins du Monde.
• Le Comede en Guyane Regional service in French Guiana providing healthcare and legal support for exiled and migrant populations.
• Le Comede dans la Loire Regional service in the Loire department offering consultations and support for exiled populations.
• Les permanences téléphoniques National telephone helplines providing guidance to professionals and associations on healthcare access and rights for exiled persons.
• Le Centre-ressources national National resource center providing information, training, and research for healthcare actors working with exiled populations in France.
• Le centre de formation du Comede Training center offering professional development for healthcare, legal, and social workers on migration health and rights.
• Guide Comede Comprehensive reference guide on healthcare and accompaniment for migrants and foreign nationals in precarious situations, co-developed with Santé publique France and awarded the Prix Prescrire in 2016.
• Maux d'exil Quarterly review addressing health and rights issues for exiled populations, featuring analysis, testimonies, and policy advocacy.
• Livret de santé bilingue Bilingual health booklet providing essential health information for exiled persons in multiple languages.
• Brèves d'exil Brief reports documenting individual situations encountered by Comede's multidisciplinary team in consultations and phone helplines.

Quantifiable outcome

• 199,136 total persons benefited since 1979
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Université Paris Diderot (UFR d'Etudes Psychanalytiques)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Academic partnership for qualifying training on accompaniment of exiled persons in precarious situations, combining psychoanalytic perspective with anthropology, medicine, and social work.
• CimadecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Operational partnership with Cimade at Hôpital Avicenne through the 'Espace Santé Droit' providing telephone helpline, social and legal support services.
• Santé publique FrancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1979Long-standing partnership with Santé publique France for the development and maintenance of the Guide Comede and health resources for exiled populations. The site [email protected] is maintained in collaboration with Santé publique France.
• EHESS-CNRS (Non-lieux de l'exil program)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for the 'Non-lieux de l'exil' seminar series on exile and trauma, bringing together researchers and practitioners.
• Anthropologies NumériquesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipation in the Anthropologies Numériques event series with workshops on dance therapy and body expression for exiled women.
• Médecins du Monde (MDM Marseille)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Marseille center providing medico-legal consultations, following the closure of MDM's CASE program.
• Anafé (Association Nationale d'Assistance aux Frontières pour les Étrangers)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerMember of OEE (Observatoire de l'enfermement des étrangers) collective advocating for rights of foreigners at borders and in detention zones.
• CFDA (Coordination Française pour le Droit d'Asile)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerMember of CFDA coalition calling for fundamental reform of asylum and immigration policies.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Croix-Rouge française: Large French humanitarian incumbent operating across health, social support, and emergency response with nationwide infrastructure. Broader in scope than Comede but overlaps materially on vulnerable-population healthcare and refugee support.
• Secours Catholique: French Catholic humanitarian organization with extensive programs for people in precarious situations including migrants and refugees. Comparable on beneficiary profile, donor-base composition, and national footprint.
• Médecins Sans Frontières: Global medical humanitarian organization present in France. Overlaps with Comede on refugee health delivery and medico-legal support, but operates at vastly larger international scale and is not niche-specialized to French exile policy.
• UNHCR France: UN Refugee Agency representation in France, providing policy guidance and oversight on asylum. Operates at a different institutional level but shares the same beneficiary base and advocacy ecosystem that Comede engages with.

Direct peers

• GISTI: Group of Information and Support for Immigrants, providing legal counsel, training, and advocacy for foreigners' rights in France. Direct peer on the legal/documentation side of Comede's work.
• Médecins du Monde: Major French NGO providing medical care to vulnerable populations including migrants and refugees. Direct peer to Comede — even operates a partnership at the Marseille center — and competes for donor funding and policy influence in the same space.
• France Terre d'Asile: Leading French association supporting asylum seekers and refugees across reception, legal aid, and integration. Highly comparable to Comede in mission, beneficiary base, and advocacy posture within the French exile ecosystem.
• Cimade: French NGO defending the rights of exiled persons through legal accompaniment and advocacy. Direct peer to Comede with an active operational partnership via the Espace Santé Droit at Hôpital Avicenne, and overlapping membership in advocacy coalitions.
• Centre Primo Levi: Paris-based care center specialized in treating victims of political violence and torture. Closely comparable to Comede's torture-survivor and medico-legal services (23% of Comede patients), serving overlapping patient profiles in the Île-de-France region.
• Anafé (Association Nationale d'Assistance aux Frontières pour les Étrangers): French NGO assisting foreigners at borders and in detention. Named Comede partner in the OEE coalition; directly comparable on rights-based accompaniment for exiled populations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xbsky.app/profile/comede.org
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@comedeassociation2949
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/comede
• Instagraminstagram.com/le_comede

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Comede - Comité pour la santé des exilé·e·s